❝Knowing what it feels like to be in pain is exactly why we try to be kind to others.❞ ㅡ Jiraiya

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CHAPTER TEN:

IWAGAKURE'S NINJA

                       Frozen on the spot, she watched in utter stupor as Gaara walked to the opposite side of the room without sparing her another glance. Many questions roamed her mind at the moment, yet she mentally shook her head and tried to ignore the whirlwind of emotions that bubbled inside her.

As time passed by, more and more genin belonging to different villages walked into the room. She watched with passive eyes — not really caring about them, for the blank look she had received minutes ago continued to harass her mind — as the teams stepped in. Not even when one of them approached her, did she pay any attention.

Fortunately, Maki was still there, and she took care of the intruder while her friend got lost inside her complex mind.

Mustering as much courage as she could, Rei ventured to peer at his indifferent face again. As if feeling her gaze, his head tilted slowly to meet her puzzled, almost disorientated expression. Then, his eyes narrowed into a deadly glare, and the unspoken words she read in it shook her to her core.

I'll kill you.

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Rei hastily looked away. A frown came across her face, and she pursed her lips in thought.

"...seems a bit out of it," an unfamiliar voice spoke in the distance.

After long minutes of thinking to no avail, Rei huffed in defeat. For the umpteenth time, she glanced over at the redhead, but he wasn't paying attention to her anymore. Her eyes scanned his emotionless features briefly before glancing at his companions — his siblings —, only to notice they were giving her withering looks as well.

Her lips pursed into a thin line.

You want to be this way? Fine by me.

She yelped as an elbow hit her on her stomach, and she sharply turned towards Maki.

"What?" she snapped as she rubbed the spot where she had just been hit.

Maki rolled her eyes, but she didn't comment on her odd behaviour and merely motioned for her to look to the front. Obliging, Rei found herself staring into a pair of blue eyes. They were observing her closely, almost as though they were trying to figure her out. Their owner, a boy with light blond hair and a headband with the symbol of Iwagakure — also known as the Village Hidden by Rocks — tied around his forehead, pulled a grin that screamed mischief.

"Aren't you a piece of art?"

Rei blinked. "What do you think you're doing?" She moved her head away and snarled at him, "Get out of my face, you creep."

His demeanour changed drastically within seconds; his grin vanished, his jaw clenched and his eyes blazed in fury. However, she didn't back out and simply arched an eyebrow in expectation.

As he was about to speak, Rei turned around on her seat and purposely ignored his presence. Next to her, Maki snickered, but she quickly sobered up as the infuriated glare of the Iwagakure ninja fell upon her.

The conflict came to a sudden halt, fortunately — Maki sighed in relief —; for a soft puff was heard, and a bunch of chūnin appeared out of thin air, silencing the room.

"My name is Ibiki Morino, and I'll be in charge of monitoring you morons during the first stage of the exams!" one of them exclaimed. A blue bandana covered his head, and huge scars decorated his face. A sadistic smile formed on his lips as he surveyed the participants, before he announced, "Welcome to your worst nightmare."

--

A written test. The oh-so-frightening first stage that started the Chūnin Exams was something as ordinary and boring as a written test.

Her lips pursed in thought at the revelation, for Rei was certain there was something tricky about it; she doubted it would be as easy as everyone surrounding her seemed to believe.

The supervisors had already distributed the participants around the spacious room, organizing them so as to be able to keep a keen eye on all of them without having to stand up from the chairs that were located at both sides of every row. Only Ibiki remained still on the same spot, standing before the lot of genin and observing their expressions as he explained the rules.

Drifting her attention from the tall man, Rei furtively casted a glance around. By the faces of most participants, they were not pleased to hear about the written test; scowls met her eye everywhere she looked at. Some others regarded the chūnin — sitting on those chairs at either side of the room — in distrust, almost defiantly.

"If you're caught cheating, you and your team will be disqualified," Ibiki was narrating.

To be honest, Rei heard him like she was listening to a distant radio: in complete apathy. Thus why only a few sentences managed to slip into her mind.

"You'll have three opportunities; no more, no less..."

Rei returned her gaze to the piece of paper which lay on the desk, in between her hands; yet no single letter looked back at her. Genjutsu, she ventured to guess.

"I'm warning you now: you're compelled to obtain a mark higher than cero to pass the exam," Ibiki stated. "This means that if any of your teammates don't... the whole team will fail."

A thud echoed in the room, almost causing her to jump out of her skin. Quickly, she snapped her gaze towards the blond boy sitting some tables ahead of her. Whining like an injured cat, Naruto gripped his head — which he had slammed against the wooden desk — with his hands. Biting her lip to hide her amused smile, Rei could only picture his situation were him to fail the test, which could easily happen. Although he strained himself physically, Naruto wasn't known for his cleverness. Rei was certain he could feel the judging glares of his teammates burning holes in his head, and part of her pitied him.

However, she knew he would be able to pull it off — or so she wanted to believe.

"And to think I'm stuck here," a much lighter voice interrupted her train of thought, one very familiar and very irritated. "A written test, none the less. Wait till h—What are you looking at?!"

Aggravated, light-blue eyes turned towards her, taking her by surprise. Playing it off, Rei huffed and avoided the inquisitive stare of the Iwagakure boy.

"What's up, pretty eyes?" he called out, a mocking edge in his voice, as he smirked. Upon receiving no answer, other than a roll of eyes, he narrowed his eyes in evident vexation, before they suddenly lost their anger and twinkled in amusement. "I don't think I've introduced myself. Name's Ryu; just Ryu."

"Pleasure to meet you, just Ryu," Rei replied after some seconds, earning herself a glare from the boy, and then added, "I think."

Before he could open his mouth, Ibiki clapped his hands, and she turned back towards him. Grinning, he voiced, "Begin!"

Within the following twenty minutes, Rei did nothing but read the questions over and over again. Her vision was glued on the paper, and her hands gripped it almost too tightly. But the more she went over the lines, the less sense they seemed to make. So far, she knew she would only be able to figure out the answer to the first question.

There's no way any of us has the level required to solve this.

Defeated before she had even started writing, Rei placed the pen on the table and leaned her chin on her hand. In front of her, she could see Naruto quickly losing his composure while trying to find a way to get out of that room without being murdered. She knew how much importance the exam held to him — just as much as it did to her. They both dreamed so big, and thus, time was valuable and ran quick as lightening.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the person sitting next to her blond friend. Her short, purple hair bounced ever so slightly as she wrote down on the paper.

Hinata Hyūga.

Honestly, Rei was fonder of her cousin; as he shared team with Rock Lee and Tenten. Neji Hyūga was also easier to have a conversation with, if only one knew how to put up with his arrogance. Hinata was quite the opposite; what with her shyness and inability to form a coherent sentence without stuttering madly. She was also way weaker when it came to fighting skills, but to be honest, Rei didn't think there were many genin that'd be able to compete with the Hyūga prodigy evenly; he was a genius, to say the least.

While Rei acknowledged Hinata's good nature, that didn't stop her from growing aggravated more times than few.

However, a pang of envy clenched her heart as she became aware of the situation with the Hyūga heiress. She was evidently cleverer than Rei had expected; the reason being Sakura always ranking first in intellectual trials, thus leaving Hinata in the shadows.

Now, as Rei glared at the girl from behind, she could only wish she could read minds.

Her eyes widened as realization washed over her, and the hand that had been supporting her head fell flatly against the desk.

"You'll just have three opportunities..."

Three opportunities... to do what? She replayed the few sentences she had gotten from Ibiki's explanation, feeling incredibly stupid to believe herself smart enough to not pay attention — which she happened to do more frequently than she'd like to admit.

"If you're caught cheating, you and your team will be disqualified."

Fortunately, she had listened enough to get an idea of what was expected from the genin, to understand the real trial hidden in that written test. And consequently, a smirk of triumph crept to her lips.

She had three opportunities... to cheat without being caught.

They expected her to prove her ninja skills when it came to stealth, to be enough witty as to find a way to cheat and not be seen by their keen eyes.

She could do that, for there was nothing more furtive than wind itself.

Taking a deep breath, she began to accumulate chakra. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she concentrated in letting part of her chakra slip into the waiting hands of the wild wind.

Then, she activated her bloodline.

Seigyo.

Almost instantly, the temperature dropped and a gelid breeze enveloped the room. Her eyes — whose orange colour had intensified and invaded her pupils until they disappeared, leaving nothing but a black line that seemed to cut the iris from left to right like a lightening bolt—drifted towards her victim. As Hinata Hyūga wrapped her jacket tighter around her frame, Rei took her pen between two fingers and let the wind do the rest.

--

He observed as the pen moved along the paper swiftly, almost on its own. Her fingers were curled around it, yet the movements of her hand seemed too queer; like she wasn't the one in control.

Unable to hide his sudden interest, he regarded her closer. She was unaware of his stare; that much was evident, for she was too concentrated on watching the girl with purple hair. He hummed and arched an eyebrow as Rei suddenly frowned and dropped the pen.

As though something was getting into her eyes, she waved a hand before her face. And while she was distracted trying to get rid of whatever that was annoying her, sand began to accumulate in front of her until an eye appeared out of it.

Someone was cheating off of her without her noticing.

He shook his head in disappointment; to think he had found himself interested in that girl's abilities. 

Thump.

He startled when Rei slammed her hand on her desk. Many eyes fell upon her, making her stretch her lips into a forced smile.

"There was a fly," she explained in an apologetic voice as she looked up at Ibiki, who seemed way too shocked to speak a word.

It's probably her eyes, he dared to bet. He most likely didn't expect her to be able to awake the Seigyo just yet.

Truth be told, he wouldn't have either had he not watched her practicing non-stop during the last couple of days. At last, Ibiki shook his head and everyone went back to their exams, quickly forgetting about the unexpected interruption.

"You've got some nerve, Gaara," he heard her mutter under her breath, her voice dripped in annoyance. Then, she lifted her hand from the wooden surface and waved a hand over it to dissipate the remains of sand.

Ryu chuckled quietly, amused, before leaning back and sighing. He could only hope the second stage of the exams would be more entertaining.